I heard a story about an emergency medical technician I’ll call Jake who was summoned to help an unconscious woman. When he arrived she had no pulse and he could tell from her color and dilated eyes that she had already suffered serious brain damage.

Still, he did his job exceptionally well and after many efforts to restart her heart, she regained consciousness. Her family kept in touch with him and he learned that the woman was permanently blind, paralyzed and unable to talk.

Jake often brooded about his decision to save her, wondering whether his technical knowledge thwarted nature's plan imposing a terrible burden on her family and trading her eternal peace for years of suffering and indignity.

His painful doubts darkened his life for many years until he received a note from the lady's son. The note said, "Mom died last week and I want to thank you for giving me so many extra years. Though at first I felt only grief, I came to find peace and gain strength from my time with her. Every day I'd hold her hand and tell her about my accomplishments and problems. I could always feel her strong pulse and I came to know that she talked to me through her heart. With every beat she sent me love and encouragement. I treasured our time together."

As Jake’s professional skill restarted the heart of a dying woman, her son's ability to feel gratitude, and willingness to express it, repaired the self-inflicted wound to Jake's heart.

This story is more about attitudes than actions. The quality of our lives is determined not so much by what we do or what is done to us, but how we choose to think about our situation.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.